


Bliss

by IggyBlue



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Gen, Jealousy, don't worry it's not a songfic, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 03:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5149154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IggyBlue/pseuds/IggyBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything about you pains my envying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bliss

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Muse song of the same name.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMqsWc8muj8

Vegeta watched the fool mingled among the small crowd of humans. They adored Goku, the man himself like an overgrown puppy - clumsy, silly and absolutely lovable. Free of worry, free of pretense. He watched as Bulma paid the buffoon full attention, and laugh at some comment he'd made. They'd been lifelong friends.

The Briefs had arranged another one of their pointless gatherings, and Vegeta sat at the fringes, watching to ensure that nothing got out of hand. Waiting for an opportunity to start something.

This was boring, but he watched, and noted how people seemed to gravitate toward Goku. They always did. At times Vegeta found himself drawn in, not always entirely conscious of it. Often Goku would be at the centre of circles of people, laughter rippling through to the edges. His bright disposition lifted people, he influenced them unknowingly.

Vegeta would not be influenced. But deep down, he wished for that admiration. For adoration, for praise and esteem. But it was too late to change now, even if he knew how to. He lamented at how content Goku always seemed to be, so easily satisfied by life. It was Goku who should have had the difficult life, not him. And yet he, the crown prince Vegeta, even in times of peace was tormented by the ghosts of his past. He would forever be moulded by his years in slavery to the cruel overlord Frieza.

Their fates had been swapped, and there was nothing Vegeta could do about it.

* * *

Later that night, once all the visitors had left, echoes of Goku's presence resonated through Vegeta's mind as he lay awake in bed. 

Goku was the sort of person that was simply happy. He was peaceful though he'd spent much of his life fighting. Still, there was no trace of conflict within him. He never aimed to beat anybody; to him, there wasn't a competition. There was no ranking or order. It just _was_ , and if someone or something came along and threatened the things he loved - many, many things - he'd use that love to fight for good. And the reserves within him seemed to be a well so deep that victory constantly eluded Vegeta. Everything that Vegeta worked hard to achieve, Goku would seem to gain and surpass without much effort at all. It came naturally, for some reason; he had the talent for power that should have belonged to the Saiyan of royal lineage.

If anybody fit the definition of joyful, it was Goku. He took pleasure in so many things, even the smallest things thrilled him. A good meal, his friends, nature - all simple things, like him, but he loved them. And everybody loved him. Nobody had ever had the chance to enslave such a man, to keep him down. Perhaps if they had, they'd be dead. Indeed, Frieza was dead - Vegeta's captor, defeated by a humble, uncomplicated man.

Beside his humiliation at Frieza's end, the man was simply too sunny, and it took away from Vegeta's own darkness. The oaf didn't take anything seriously, he even trivialised his Saiyan ancestry and Vegeta's position as royal. He'd even made fun of the prince at times. When both Saiyans were present, people took no notice of Vegeta. They didn't respect him so fully as they ought to.

That he was even still thinking about Goku angered Vegeta terribly. With fury blazing in his chest, he vowed to take what was his. 

Then, with Goku defeated, people would again say the name Vegeta with reverence and fear.

* * *

"Vegeta! What are you doing here?"

He formed a ball of ki in his hand, uninterested in chatter.

"Whoa - wait! If you want to spar we'll go somewhere isolated."

Vegeta didn't care where they fought. When Goku darted off into the sky, he followed. His patience grew thin after only half a minute of flight, and he appeared in front of Goku, stopping him with a fist to the face.

When Goku recoiled, they eyed each other down, poised still in mid-air. "Not playing by the rules, huh?"

"Fuck the rules." **_Smack!_**

"Ow!"

"I'm done with playing games. Fight me."

Goku assumed a battle stance as he hovered. "As you wish, your _majesty_."

* * *

Vegeta was ruthless. Though Goku had brute strength, enough to overcome Vegeta on an equal playing field, Vegeta had tactics, strategy, and drive. He had an absolute hunger for dominance. A thirst for bloodshed. His craving was for brutality.

And what separated them again was the fact that Goku didn't really want to hurt his opponent.

* * *

With his rival overcome and lying prone in a shattered body, Vegeta pulsed his ki rhythmically to draw the attention of Goku's friends, and after a few minutes they showed, keeping a safe distance from him. Goku's young son, seeing what had happened, broke free from the group and went to his father's aid.

"Why would you do this?!" The bald one called.

He smirked. It felt hollow. "Because I can." With that, he flew away.

Then he wandered the vast plains of the earth in search of answers he knew he wouldn't find. As time passed, the emptiness seemed to grow more vast in his chest, near unbearable, so he went to the only person he thought could help.

He didn't know what to say, how to introduce his predicament, so he simply entered Bulma's lab and hovered near her. She was tinkering with a small instrument of some kind, working a tiny screwdriver with slender fingers. After a moment she paused and looked to him, eyebrows raised. "Did you need something?"

He shook his head. She motioned for him to sit in a chair nearby, and he did. Pushing with her feet, she rode her swivel chair to arrive in front of him. "Are you bored or something?" Her curiosity was written on her face. Perhaps he could be her next project to reverse-engineer. He continued to stare at her, and her expression darkened somewhat. "Did something happen?" She asked cautiously.

He tilted his head, looking to the far wall of the room.

"What happened."

"I beat Kakarot."

Focussing back on her face, he saw in her what he dreaded the most in all this. A flash of fear, of panic that Goku was dead. He gritted his teeth. "I didn't kill him." He gave in way of reassurance. 

Her expression melted from fearful back to curious. "Aren't you happy?"

He felt a pang in his chest, she'd hit the target. His head dropped forward to rest in his palms, elbows resting on knees. He breathed a few moments. Finally he responded. "How?"

He felt her hand rest on his shoulder as she sighed. Her voice was gentle. "That's a difficult question. I wish I knew."

He began to question the tiles below them. "Why does he have what he has? Why is it so easy for him? What did he do?"

"So this isn't about your battle."

He growled at himself. She was right.

She continued, softly, her hand squeezing his shoulder. "Go and talk to him."

"I won't apologise."

"That's okay. Just talk."

He looked up to see care written on her delicate features. He nodded, resolute. "Later. I doubt he can talk right now."

Bulma huffed slightly, sitting back in her chair.

* * *

When he finally went to see Goku the following week, the younger man wore some bruises with his trademark smile. "Hi Vegeta! I gotta say, I'm surprised to see you here. Come to see how I am?" He laughed at himself. "You did well, congratulations on beating me."

Vegeta didn't know what to say, so Goku continued. "I gotta say though, I thought what happened a little out of character for you. Usually we stop before it gets to that point. I mean, I would have died had my friends not come get me. "

"Perhaps."

"I'm guessing you were mad at me? And you're not so mad now?"

Vegeta's facade faltered and he uncrossed his arms. "You could say that." After all he'd done to Goku, the man still hadn't a trace of hatred for him.

Goku nodded, still holding a little bit of a smile. "I know you didn't come to apologise, but, for what it's worth, I forgive you Vegeta."

This struck Vegeta at his heart. Despite beating him to near death, Goku had retained the sunny disposition Vegeta had sought to take from him. Vegeta could take Goku's life if he so desired, but he couldn't take his optimism and forgiving spirit. And he couldn't forcibly take other people's respect and adoration. He could kill Goku, but he couldn't take for himself the life he felt he deserved.

And at this, though Vegeta had won the fight, he was defeated once again by Goku.


End file.
